Hi. I'm currently in the process of buying an investment property. I have had an offer accepted subject to a couple of conditions. A copy of the contract has been sent to my solicitor and he has had a look at it. I have an appointment to meet with him tomorrow to go over it and sign it etc. Only problem is that I'm still waiting on my finance to be approved . If I go to the appointment tomorrow and go through the contract etc and then the finance falls over because the house doesn't value up would I still have to pay the solicitor his $1800 fee? Not sure what happens?
I'm sure other more experienced people will jump in and help. In the meantime, what are the clauses? Do you include a subject to finance clause in the offer or contract?
Generally not, most soli's will consider a purchase settling to be full fee and would allow for this in their fees. If it happens more than once though expect additional costs
Most solicitors or conveyancers will review contracts prior to signing without charge... ... to a point. If you show up with a new contract every week that continually falls through, sooner or later they'll start asking you to pay for their time.
Thanks for the reply. I'm 99% it will all go through fine. Just a little bit of last minute jitters I guess. Haha.
Solicitors usually don't, if they do, they would have told you upfront. But as a business, they're less inclined to agree to review more than 5 contracts for free.
I work with a settlement agent / property lawyer who reviews contracts as part of the service as a good will gesture. In saying that most clients in WA dont get contracts reviewed even though I recomend it everytime. I always do and have never regreted it.
My last solicitor didn't even bother to go through the contract, just handed it to his assistant to skimp through it.
What do you expect a solicitor to find in a contract that you can't yourself realistically? It's all in there in plain English, maybe a bit of Latin too Honestly I have never understood this going to the solicitor for a read the contract appointment. Use them for searches and communication YOU need to read the contract yourself and fully understand what is in there.
We charge a $110 termination fee if you get through cooling off. But we will deduct the $110 for anyone who brings us another contract in 60 days. Basically it stops people abusing our generosity. Will review numerous contracts without charge.
I know someone who is on to their 4th contract review and hasnt paid the lawyer anything yet. He is going for properties at auction and believes the agents estimates so is just wasting everyones time. The lawyers should be charging for this sort of thing as it takes time to do.
We don't charge a fee to review contracts prior to them being signed. And we don't have caps either. But we won't provide a written report - will just discuss the contract over the phone, focusing on problematic issues or "deal breakers". And once a contract is signed, we invoice the client for half our fee + estimated disbursements = the trade off for the free service upfront, a win-win.
